


More Than His Father's Legacy

by SerenePandemonium



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Tony Stark Has Daddy Issues, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-26 14:57:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17748035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerenePandemonium/pseuds/SerenePandemonium
Summary: Is he really more than his father's legacy though?





	More Than His Father's Legacy

"...my greatest creation... is you."

 

No, it's not.

 

Because he isn't Howard Stark's creation.

 

Howard Stark didn't shape him, didn't raise him. If he's a creation, then Howard just had a patent on him. Taking credit for Tony's "creation" when everyone else did all the hard work. It's the story of Howard's career so why wouldn't it be the story of Howard's family, too?

 

Howard Stark didn't create him.

 

Maria Stark created him.

 

Edwin Jarvis created him.

 

Ana Jarvis created him.

 

Peggy Carter created him.

 

They are the people who made Tony Stark a person.

 

Howard Stark made Tony Stark: The Product. The thing sold to the media and the politicians and the highest echelons of society. But that isn't _Tony_.

 

Tony has never belonged to Howard. Even before Iron Man, before Afghanistan. He may have pretended to be, but he was never his father's son.

 

Not many people know this. But Tony was already trying to step away from weapons manufacturing long before Afghanistan. He was trying to expand their scientific studies. Focus more on robotics and medical technology and the Intelli-Crops. Obie kept pushing back whenever he worked on something other than weapons. Of course he would.

 

SI's military funding went a long way towards their goals of curing diseases and ending world hunger. But he couldn't be sure that they would stay afloat without those contracts. He couldn't guarantee that they could continue to improve the world without that kind of backing. Look at him, trying to justify necessary evils for the greater good. He was naive to think that his weapons were also improving the world. He was naive to trust that his weapons were only being used to protect their troops. But then Afghanistan happened.

 

Yes, he saw young Americans killed by the very weapons he created to defend them and protect them. But he also saw everyone else killed too. Innocent civilians. Even before he found out his weapons were being put on the black market. They were dying because of the weapons owned by the US military. Men, women and children who had done nothing wrong, who had the misfortune of being born in a country at war with America. He saw that now. How there was also zero accountability when it came to the weapons that were sold legally. By him. He was complicit and that will always be his greatest shame.

 

Where he was complicit, Howard was vicious.

 

But no one ever raised him to be complicit. Not Maria, not Edwin, not Ana, and not Peggy. Perhaps that was Howard's true influence. So, yeah, maybe Howard did create some of him. He created the worst parts.

 

It looks like he was his father's son after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Here we see Tony go through the 5 stages of grief; denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.


End file.
